Locals protest over transfer of Railway Police chief

Mumbai: In a show of solidarity, hundreds of locals residing in and around suburban Ghatkopar here today took to streets to protest transfer of Government Railway Police (GRP) Commissioner Ravinder Singhal.

The Maharashtra government had yesterday transferred 37 IPS officers in which Singhal was posted as Special IG (Training). He had taken over as GRP Commissioner in August last year.

Protesters claimed that Singhal’s work was “exemplary” as the Commissioner of GRP and he should have been given more time.

Over 200 protesters took out a rally from Railway Colony to local MLA and minister Prakash Mehta.

Rail activists and associations also rallied behind Singhal and opposed his transfer.

Subhash Gupta, a member of Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC) of Central Railway, a rail body comprising railway experts from public, also expressed his “displeasure and surprise” over the transfer of Singhal.

Singhal (IPS, 1996 batch) took charge as GRP Commissioner in August 2014. Before that, in 2009 and 2010 he served as SP Railways Nagpur, where he started a project for providing safe shelter and education to abandoned children who were seen begging on trains and at railway platforms.

“I have communicated my displeasure to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and have requested him to cancel the order of his transfer. He has done exemplary job as the Commissioner of GRP,” said Ketan Shah, founder president of Andheri- Boriwali Rail Yatri Sangathan.